djpryor;
As a former dealer who was involved with the concept of the 23.5 and later water ballast boats, as Forest15112 said, there is no need sir to remove that rudder when transporting. Here are a few tips. Keep the rudder up when launching or you will damage it in the down position during launch. If you learn to motor the boat onto the trailer, raise it some so it will not drag on the ramp coming onto the trailer but remember when the rudder is in the up position at any angle, you will find it more difficult to steer and in that situation, go slow under motor, never go fast.
before you pull the boat out, make sure the rudder is up all the way. You will find that you can temporarily tie it off to include putting tension on the wing nut on the side of the rudder housing. To prep for towing, put the rudder in the full up position, swing it over to the port side and take an extra line and tie it around the rudder and cinching it off to a point on the backside of the transom for example a stern rail base to ensure that your rudder will not fall down as extra precaution. I suggest going 15-20 miles and check your tie downs to include the rudder tie down.
When delivering a 26 years ago, my employee failed to tie off the line to the transom when I heard a truck honk. I pulled over and saw the prettiest sand job on that rudder. I turned around to go back to pick up a new rudder off another boat. That was a costly mistake as I failed to rely on my own advice to pull over and check tie downs after a short distance.
crazy dave condon
